San Francisco is suing food brands like Kraft Heinz and Coca-Cola, accusing them of selling processed foods

"San Francisco is going after food brands that produce "ultra-processed foods," accusing the companies of fueling a public health crisis. The 64-page lawsuit, filed on December 2 by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, accused some of the country's biggest food brands of selling dangerous, ultra-processed foods to residents of San Francisco. It named 11 brands as defendants: The Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International, Post Holdings, The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsico Inc., General Mills, Nestlé, Kellanova, WK Kellogg Co., Mars Inc., and Conagra Brands."

""They designed food to be addictive, they knew the addictive food they were engineering was making their customers sick, and they hid the truth from the public," the attorney wrote, adding that taxpayers were left to foot the bill of a resulting public health crisis. It said that ultra-processed foods majorly contribute to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses. Chiu called for the brands to cease further deceptive marketing and pay civil penalties to the city of San Francisco."

San Francisco filed a 64-page lawsuit accusing 11 major food brands of producing and marketing ultra-processed foods that drive obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic illnesses. The complaint names Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Post Holdings, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestlé, Kellanova, WK Kellogg, Mars, and Conagra. The city alleges the companies engineered addictive products, withheld health warnings, made fraudulent health claims, and targeted children. The city seeks orders to end deceptive marketing and civil penalties to cover taxpayer costs tied to health impacts. The lawsuit arrives as the US increases scrutiny of processed foods.

Read at Business Insider